ISRAEL settler leaders from the West Bank, it has emerged, have held around 20 secret meetings with senior Palestinian officials in Israel and London over the last two years.
The talks, between bitter adversaries with sharply opposing claims, have been aimed in part at heading off a possible violent confrontation between Palestinians and settlers.
While the Palestinians insist that all 144 Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip be dismantled in a final settlement with Israel, the settlers have vowed that they will never relinquish their homes.
Settler participants in the dialogue included, prominent settler leader, Mr Yisrael Harel, and Rabbi Eliezer Waldman, known for his far right views.
The Palestinian delegation included Mr Mohammed Dahlan, head of Palestinian security in the Gaza Strip and Mr Sufian Abu Zaydeh who holds a senior post in Mr Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
Mr Harel said yesterday he had engaged in the talks because he believed his community could not ignore the new reality created by the Israel Palestinian accords which have afforded the Palestinians autonomy in sections of the West Bank and Gaza. But Mr Harel added that the talks did not deal with the future of the settlements.
Mr Abu Zaydeh said the Palestinians could not simply ignore the settlers as "they are the major obstacle, faced by the Palestinian people."
Embarrassed by the revelations, most settler leaders strongly criticised the meetings. The talks, said Mr Uri Ariel, head of the main settler organisation, had "caused damage," and had afforded legitimacy to Palestinians who, he said, were responsible for the murder of Jews.
Meanwhile, Israel's Shin Bet security service revealed on Sunday night that it had captured a Gazan resident who had been recruited by the Muslim fundamentalist Islamic Jihad movement, trained in Iran, and sent back to plan attacks on Israelis.
According to security sources, Mr Halil Zuhadi Saliman Abulssa (24), a resident of the Jabalya refugee camp, was recruited a year ago while studying medicine in Turkey and arrested on March 12th on his return home.